Dementia Gateway: Making decisions
Section editor: David Thompson, Senior Practice Development Manager, SCIE
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Helping people make their own decisions
What you can do to help people make their own decisions.
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Capacity: Can the person make the decision?
Who should assess capacity and how to do it.
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Making decisions in a person's best interests
Making a best interests decision and who should do it?
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Advance care planning
People making plans for a time when they are no longer able to make decisions.
In England and Wales a new law about making decisions started in 2007 called the Mental Capacity Act. It covers all decisions people may make for themselves, however little or big, from deciding whether to have a bath or shower to selling a house. The law says we must start by assuming that people can make their own decisions. This includes people with dementia.
How can you help a person with dementia to make decisions now and for their future? Clink on the links above to explore some of the big dilemmas of making decisions with people with dementia.
Explore the links above to help you expand your skills and knowledge of this theme.
It sometimes seemed that the minute my back was turned, something else would be done without any consultation and always with the comment that it was for my own good and that I had been told what was going on.
Person with dementia, quoted in Supporting people with dementia using the MCA (Alzheimer's Society 2009)
Share your own practice examples with us!
SCIE is looking for examples of good practice in dementia care so that we can share them with people working in the sector and help to raise standards of care.
Visit the Dementia Good Practice Exchange to find out more.
